Superman may claim he stands for truth, justice and the American way, but in reality he’s seen his fair share of legal trouble. For decades now the estate of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel has been viciously battling Warner Bros. for the rights to the character.

Back in 2001 the rights to Superman himself were more or less settled, but battles continued to be fought over Superboy. Why did Warners own Superman, but not Superboy? Why were they even considered different characters? Well, it’s complicated…

Basically, back in the late 1930s, Siegel pitched the idea of Superboy to his overlords at DC Comics and had it rejected. Years later in 1943, DC would publish the first Superboy story without consulting Siegel (he was stationed overseas with the Army). Because he hadn’t sold Superboy to DC (remember, they initially rejected his idea) or created the character under a typical work-for-hire contract, the door was open for Siegel (and his heirs) to lay claim to Superboy. There’s more to it of course, but that’s the seed of why the Siegel family has greater claim to Superboy than Superman.

This legal wrangling over Superboy is of course why Superboy TV show Smallville went 10 freakin’ seasons without ever dropping the name “Superboy” or showing Clark Kent in costume, and why recent comic book Superboys are always androids or from another dimension or whatever.

Well, anyways, it looks like the long battle may finally be over — federal Judge Otis Wright III has awarded DC Comics and Warner Bros. full rights to Superboy. Don’t feel too badly for the Siegels though, they get $500,000 a year over 10 years and 6 percent of all Superman/Superboy gross revenue going forward. So in other words, they may have lost to the rights to Superman and Superboy, but they’re going to have a very nice payday coming once Man of Steel hits theatres.

I’ve always had mixed feelings on this. Oh one hand, I almost always side with the creators on getting their due. On the other hand, their family are not them and most had no stake the creation of the character, so I don’t see why they deserve the millions that they will probably get out of this.

Anyway, I am glad it’s over, now if only DC could make Superboy likeable again…

His family does deserve it. The reason being is they are his heirs. He is supposed to be given that money from the get go basically and since he never recieved it, which would have been past on to his heirs(if his will were to be written so) and then they would end up with a big giant superboy inheritance, instead they are retroactively getting that inheritance that was never awarded to their dead relative. It may not “seem fair” but it is.